When you work with the Social Security Administration to fill out your application forms, your forms are then sent from the SSA to a state agency that is responsible for making the decisions in disability cases. The Social Security Administration itself is not responsible for making the decisions in your social security disability case. There are vocational and medical experts that the state employs, and these individuals are responsible for making connections with your doctors and any other individuals that treated your disability so that they can obtain any necessary medical records and other information that will serve as evidence for your case.
This state agency may also ask for you to have a medical test or examination depending on what your disability is. You should not have to pay for any of the medical tests or examinations that you undergo as a result of questions from the state agency. If the state ends up asking for an examination, make absolute sure that you keep that appointment and go through any testing that is required of you as this will provide you with additional proof of your disability. Providing medical records and other information from your doctors and hospitals is certainly important but the agency may also want to do their own tests as well to make sure that all of your information is correct.
There are two different programs that Social Security uses in order to pay disability benefits. The first is SSDI or Social Security Disability Insurance which is intended for insured workers, for disabled surviving spouses and for children disabled before the age of 22 that were the children of retired, disabled or deceased workers. The second is SSI or Supplemental Security Income, which is intended for people that have little or no income or that have little or no resources.
The process of applying for disability benefits essentially involves applying for both programs because it is possible to qualify for both, or only to qualify for one depending on your individual situation. When you apply for both programs as part of the disability application process, the Social Security Administration can help you determine which program is best going to address your needs in terms of disability benefits.
The Social Security Administration can provide you with a great amount of assistance when it comes to planning for your SSDI application and everything that it entails. Contacting your local SSA office can help you when it comes to making the right decisions about your application for disability benefits in order to speed up the approval process so that you can move on with your life. Although it is possible to go through this entire process on your own with the right forms and the right information, working directly with someone on the behalf of the Social Security Administration can make it a much smoother and much straighter forward process by making sure that you provide all of the necessary information when applying for benefits.